The present invention relates to a tilting drive for a converter having a gear arranged on a tilting trunnion of the converter, the gear being supported on the base via a torque support.
When the converter is in operation, disturbances can occur with the consequence that a tilting of the converter is possible only with a tilting moment that is increased as compared to the normal operation of the converter. Such disturbances are, e.g., an overcharging, a collapse of the lining of the converter or a freezing of the bath in the converter. In order to be able to tilt the converter even after the occurrence of these disturbances, the drive motors and the gears usually are designed for much higher performances than are required by operation of the converter without disturbances. However, if these disturbances impede the tilting movement of the converter beyond a certain degree and an attempt is made to further tilt the converter, the gear or the carrying ring may be damaged or a tilting trunnion may even be ripped off.
For reasons related to the production of the drive motors and because of the temperature variations that occur during the operation of the converter, it is not possible to construct the drive motors to precisely the maximum allowable performance of the gear or to the maximum allowable torque to be applied to the tilting trunnion, which would not cause damage to the converter plant. If it is desired to tilt the converter even under as heavy a load as possible, drive motors must be provided that are able to give a higher performance than that which is necessary for the converter plant. When it was necessary to tilt the converter under circumstances impeding tilting, according to the working procedure hitherto used, only the occurrence of the above-described damage has led to a turning off of the drive motors.